


The family tree

by Breagen



Category: League of Legends
Genre: 20th Century, 21st Century, Bloodshed, Depression, F/F, F/M, Gore, Trauma, Vampire Hunters, Vampires, War
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-19
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-15 03:49:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,844
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29429823
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Breagen/pseuds/Breagen
Summary: Akali had a good life. She had work that provided her with enough money to never nag about her spending. She had a loving girlfriend whose beauty could not have been matched. Suddenly, one call from Evelynn changed everything. It appeared that Evelynn's bloodline hid more secrets that the beauty was even informed about.The path is flooded by darkness. The time doesn't matter for immortals, for the few chosen ones. All that matters is the family tree. Everything should stay inside the family.
Relationships: Akali/Evelynn (League of Legends)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 49





	1. Every story has its beginning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, I'd like to present the new story I wanted to write for some time. I hope you'll like, if not, please, let me know what I can improve :)
> 
> PS. The chapter should be finished up to the next weekend. Please, forgive me, but I'm so excited about this story that for the very first chapter, I'll be posting as much as I write daily.
> 
> PS. PS. I would love to hear what you're thinking about the story so far, what do you like, what you don't.
> 
> As always, thanks for everything, and see you next time :D
> 
> Changelog:  
> 2021-02-14: A preview was posted.  
> 2021-02-15: Another part of the chapter was posted.  
> 2021-02-19: The entire chapter was posted.

The long corridor was lighted by the dimmed crystals embedded into the walls. The manor owner’s great-grandfather’s creation was impressive. The subtle magic caresses her skin as she walks the manor halls, sending shivers down her spine. She hated that feeling. If she could have been somewhere else, she would have turned around in a blink of the eye. Sadly, there was a reason behind her arrival to the Victorian manor. With a heavy sigh, she tried to make any sense of the current situation. But it was challenging.

Evelynn’s call caught her the moment she returned from work. Akali was exhausted beyond the usual understanding of that word. If it had been anyone else, she would have refused to come, but Evelynn was always an exception. Without thinking, the black-haired woman returned to her car and drove to her girlfriend as quickly as she possibly could. After all, it was rare for Evelynn to call. Usually, she would have just come to Akali’s office, asking her out. For dinner, walk, it really did not matter.

The raven-haired woman felt trapped. The enormously large manor was built at least 100 years ago. It was all Evelynn knew. Still, there might have been some details that her girlfriend did not know about. The entirety of the estate seemed to be clouded by some mystery, something dark. The sad part was that she could not name it appropriately. As if she could not grasp it entirely.

Footsteps made no sound here. The thick Persian carpet muffed everything. The enormously long piece of fabric covered the entirety of the floor here. Numerous paintings hung from the walls. There were some genre scenes presented there, but the majority of the images were portraits. The portraits lavishly framed, held faces of men with sickly pale skin, sharp features, sky blue eyes, and straight hair coloured fair. The portraits’ collective gazes, cold as ice, cut into all who passed by. Akali felt as if she was being watched by them all the time. It was an eerie sensation that only reinforced the woman’s concern. She needed to reach Evelynn’s room as soon as possible. The quicker she did so, the quicker she could leave that place. It felt as if the manor was cursed.

Her girlfriend’s room was located at the building’s very top level. Frankly saying, it would be wrong to call it such. The entirety of the floor was Evelynn’s. She could do anything she wanted with it.

After some time, she finally reached the stairs leading to the final building’s storey. Never in her life, Akali felt so scared walking through the manor’s halls. The feeling of being watched, being stalked could be hardly compared to anything she ever experienced. Some spiderwebs caught the woman’s attention. Her heart started to pump the blood faster. Without an ounce of hesitation, she ran upstairs. If there was one thing that Akali knew about the blond beauty she got used to calling hers, was the fact that she was pedantic. Inside her quarters, or even near them, the dust, dirt had no place. She would either order the servants to clean it up or do it herself. Something was off. Her guts knew that. That feeling - that started to build inside of her once she picked up the phone – was getting stronger and stronger, slowly taking control over her body and mind.

It did not take her long to climb up. She was welcomed by the slightly ajar doors. Something was definitely off. Without thinking, the gun was pulled out of the packet. All of Akali’s senses were on high alert, muscles ready to act, flexed, tensed. She came past the doors, ready to shot at any sign of danger. The remnants of the marble statuses lay all over the greenish carpet. A couple of red spots could be easily spotted on the fabric. It was not blood, about that, Akali was sure. The characteristic metallic aroma was not filling the air here. The raven-haired woman stopped for a few moments, sniffing as quietly as she could. The pungent smell of the red wine hit her nostrils a moment later. So, the source of the spots was known. It was wine. A few additional seconds were spared to inspect the hallway thoroughly. If there were wine’s stains here, the glass should not be far.

Akali found the cracks soon enough. Most of the glass shards hid between the carpet’s fibres, making it difficult to spot at first glance. However, the most intriguing piece was laying at the very end of the corridor. At the glass, the visible, fresh lipstick stain could be seen. It was Evelynn’s favourite, she called it – Bloody Merry.

With every passing second, the raven-haired woman getting calmer and calmer. It could have been seen as strange, but it seemed her work finally found her beloved. Of course, she was concerned about her girlfriend’s wellbeing, but the thoughts regarding that were pushed to the back of Akali’s mind. If she has been right, she would have been soon faced with an extraordinary danger. She needed her mind to be calm to fight it.

She approached the door located at the very end of the hallway. All the time, her finger was lingering over the trigger of her trusted Colt. Truth be told, she was very sceptical about choosing M1911 over many other options, at least initially. However, as time passed, the raven-haired woman grew a fondness for that particular handgun. It had never let her down.

Step by step, the distance between her and the close door was vanishing. She felt like some sort of wild predator in the jungle. Akali was on a prowl. The problem was that she was yet to know what enemy would she face. The woman was so focused that she could swear at least a couple of breaths were missed by her. To some extent, her body considered the breathing to be an utter waste of time and energy. Only after her lungs had begun their demand for the fresh air, she noticed that occurrence. She took a deep breath, trying to calm down and regain complete control over her body.

Whilst still a couple of steps away from the passage leading to the adjacent room, new sounds began to be registered by her currently sharpened hearing. At first, the still-young woman was not entirely sure whether she actually heard something or it was just her imagination. The new sounds seemed to be a mixture of quiet groans, whines, gasps. Akali allowed herself to stop for a moment to make sure that she could still control her senses. For a fraction of a second, the ultimate silence ruled over the nearby area. The moment the woman wanted to proceed, the sounds returned, louder, coming closer. There was no doubt, this time. She heard the mixture of sounds clear enough.

As if the situation could not worsen, the storm decided to start its reign at that very moment. The lightning split the skies, soaking everything with a bright glow. It was being followed by the thunder that had shaken the area. The heavy raindrops began hitting the old shutters only a moment later. The difficult situation Akali found herself in quickly became as if taken straight out of the horror movie. The clear, loud creaking of old hinges reached her after some time. Someone was roaming around the floor, clearly seeking something. Inside the woman’s throat, the huge gulp formed. She swallowed it as slowly and quietly as she could. There was no time for her to fear. She needed to act quickly. Somewhere there, her girlfriend might be taken as a prisoner. The goal was to set her free.

The door’s handle was unnaturally cold. Even though it was made out of pure steel, it should not have been freezingly cold. As soon as her inner hand touched the metal, she wanted to withdraw it. It was evident that something supernatural was happening behind this closed passage. Akali opted to put a bit more strength onto the handle, opening the door slowly. In the imaginary world, it would have opened without making a sound. However, in reality, the loud, protracted squeal sounded. The raven-haired woman froze. There was no point in believing that her presence was not discovered. Most likely, someone or something that was lurking around knew about her way earlier.

Taking any advantage out of the given time of calm, she started to look around, trying to memories her surroundings. Sadly, it did not last long enough for her to find out anything important at all. The sound of shuffling of feet could be heard, coming from the right hall. The gun was immediately fixed onto the passage leading to the room. For the raven-haired woman, time seemed to die out, froze.

Irritatingly slowly, the door began to open. To Akali’s utter surprise, one of the many maids working in the estate walked out from it. Just one quick glance over her from could tell her story, at least to some extent. Her uniform was ragged, damaged in some areas. The woman’s left foot was probably twisted. She was shuffling it all over the floor. The blond strands were glued, soaked with most likely sweat. She was slightly tilted to the front, keeping her head low, allowing her fair to cover it entirely.

“Kathrine?” Akali slowly asked. “Are you alright? What happened here?” she continued to ask questions, slowly lowering her gun, allowing the maid to come closer.

It was a prolonged process, so she decided to close the distance herself. Strange, the woman did not reply to her call. Maybe she had problems currently with speaking, maybe. With every single step Akali took, the somehow familiar smell started to fill her nostrils. It was heavy, metallic, but she knew it. She was sure about that aspect, but she could not name in properly in the end.

The realisation descended upon her when the maid was a mere step away from her. Just around the corner, there was a large thick pool of red. It was, without a doubt, blood. The low, primal hiss escaped the blonde’s throat, giving one last warning to the raven-haired woman. The sharp nails pierced through the fabric of her coat, pierced through the shirt, and buried deep into her flesh. Unnaturally firm hands began pulling her closer, deepening the already existing wounds. Kathrine lifted her head, revealing the bloodstain covering the entirety of her face. Her small, delicate lips were twitching. Some foam was dripping out of it.

Driven by her experience and instincts, the raven-haired woman used her gun to knock out the maid. Even though all strengths she could currently muster were put into the hit, all it accomplished was shaking the woman slightly. Thankfully, the nails were pulled out of Akali’s flesh, spraying the thick, hot, fresh blood. The raven-haired woman groaned loudly but did not back down. Nearly instantly, she kicked the blonde straight into the chest, finally making her collapse onto the floor. The Colt was immediately fixed on top of the laying women, waiting for any excuse to fire.

“Stay on the floor, whoever you are!” Akali ordered the maid.

It was a futile effort. Something that was previously known as Kathrine lifted her head slightly, opening her mouth. The rows of long, sharp fangs were flashed out. Some of them were still covered in the blood of most likely her previous victim. Without an ounce of hesitation, Akali fired. The first shot hit the heart, the second pierced the skull of the poor maid.

Even though the raven-haired woman already fired twice, she was still tensed. As slowly as she could, she closed the distance to Kathrine’s body. With the corpse still at gunpoint, she pulled out a medium-length knife. The blade was curved, serrated, covered with many symbols. In a moment quicker than a blink of the eye, she knelt down and severed the head of the woman with ease.

“Degenerate, this does not bode well,” she allowed herself to comment in a whisper-like manner.

In her life, the raven-haired woman killed many of such monstrosities. To some extent, it was a family business. Or maybe more of a burden that was being passed from one generation to another. All Akali wanted was to live a normal life. Sadly, as the current situation showed, it was not an option. Her legacy was crawling behind her back. Sometimes, it seemed as if the darkness was gone for good. Yet, there were times like this when fate decided to remind her about her heritage.

Akali allowed herself to linger for a couple of moments more. She still could feel the blood pouring down from her wounds. Even though some fabric was used to staunch the bleeding, she knew better that it would take time for them to seal entirely.

Not really sure whether she should delve deeper. The woman opted to check the adjacent room where she initially spotted the bloodstains. It was so fruitless for her to try to creep now. After all, if there had been more of degens like Kathrine, they would have known about her already. Akali hissed quietly when she bumped into the doorframe unintentionally. The already brownish piece of fabric wrapped around one of her wounds started to leak. The fresh blood was slowly running down her arm. The raven-haired woman looked at that, shaking her head.

“Can this freaking day end already?” she asked herself with a heavy sigh.

As it was to be expected, in the small room, Kathrine’s previous victim’s body was found resting on the wall. It was an elderly man clothed in a dark, nearly black butler’s suit. On his wrinkled face, the sadness could be seen. His deep blue eyes were empty, fixed on the floor. She knew the man. His name was Albert, and as far as Akali knew, he was the one who brought up Evelynn. He was more of a father figure to her girlfriend that her biological father. Based on the man’s expression, he was not surprised, far from that. It seemed that he knew what was planned for him. Albert’s neck was ripped to the shreds. Kathrine must have turned recently. The butler was most likely her first victim, her first meal. When Akali was young, her father showed her the photos presenting the first victims of the degens. The scene in front of her sickeningly resembled these images. Albert was dead - she was sure of that. The degens could not turnover humans into vampires. There was little the raven-haired woman could do for the dead butler. She opted to kneel beside him and close his eyes for the one last time.

It was irresponsible out of her to leave the room without looking around. Still, Akali was sick of the situation already. Fiding Evelynn was her primary goal. Killing the rest of the degens was just a side task.

The room in front of her was leading to yet another corridor. If she had been to walk straight ahead, she would have reached her girlfriend’s room at the end of it. Still, more or less in the middle of the hallway, a branch led to the spacious living room. If someone or something had been holding Evelynn hostage, the living room would have been the best place to start the searching.

The awful feeling of being watched did not fade away. If anything, Akali could have sworn that it only affected her more and more as the time passed.

Maybe you heard that the old habits die hard. Akali was not an exception. On her tiptoes, she tried to creep forward. Even though it was entirely pointless, she still found her body tending toward such behaviour. Step by step, she was getting closer to the middle point of the corridor. It would be difficult to explain, but some part of the raven-haired woman felt like something was waiting for her. Waiting for her to be close enough for it to attack.

The light system started to buzz. The bulbs were flickering, burning out at the rapid pace. Just a couple of moments later, the nearest bulb exploded, covering the area with the glass shards. Nearly instantly, the entirety of the hallway was covered by darkness. Akali swallowed the gulp, awaiting some sort of the assault. The darkness was being temporarily castaway while yet another lighting split the skies. The raven-haired woman needed to adapt to the situation on a fly. It was evident that the only time for her to push forward safely was when the light was back. It was so unfortunate that her flashlight was left inside the car. Even more unfortunate was the fact that she could not go for it now. She felt as if something was waiting for her to turn back. She was trained to deal with such situations. Still, she found herself scared, not sure what to do.

The rumble of the rain was so loud that she could barely hear anything. When the next lighting appeared, Akali marched forward, forcing her body to move. She was no longer sure whether the sounds she was hearing were downpour or rather something much creepier. The darkness returned before she could reach the beginning of the branch. The gap between her and her current destination was not large, maybe a couple of steps, maybe even less. Akali’s heart was pounding hard inside her chest. Her breath became shallow, heavy, wheezing. She could have sworn that someone or something was breathing close by. However, she could not prove that thought. As soon as the woman stopped exhaling, the breathing sounds faded away, leaving her surrounded by the rumble of the rain.

Thankfully, the next lighting split the skies just a few moments later. With her mind filled with fear and hesitation, Akali pushed forward. Her trusted gun was ready to be used again, waiting for an opportunity. One last heavy breath was allowed to escaped her throat before she faced her demons. She reached the branch, scanning the area. She allowed herself to sign when nothing was found.

Something wet dropped down from the ceiling. She was in troubles. The woman did not have enough time to jump to the side before something heavy fell onto her. The right sleeve of her expensive coat was torn off. Before the light faded away again, she saw the degenerated face of the unknown man. Before she could do anything, the sharp as razors teeth sunk into her arm, tearing up her muscles. Akali could not have held the pain. She cried out loudly cause of the unbearable burning sensation. From a distance, the sounds of the steps reached the woman’s ears. Even though she was weak, wounded, it was evident for her that if she stayed on the ground, she would die. With yet another scream, she pushed toward the degen. Her mostly intact left hand was seeking the gun she dropped.

Akali could feel her strengths fading away, her fibres being torn, her blood being sucked by the hungry monstrosity. It did not consider her as a threat toward itself. A costly mistake that had it killed. A couple of shots were fired as soon as the handgun was reached. They pierced through the man’s skull, spilling his blood all over the wounded woman. She tried to reach out for her knife, but she did not manage to do so. The footsteps silenced. And just a moment later, the blackness came when someone or something struck her on the face.

A severe throbbing headache brought Akali to reality. It seemed as if every single fibre of her body was hurt. Her entire frame was aching. The burning sensation was spreading quickly, making her dizzy weak. She tried to look around. The raven-haired woman was held inside the spacious living room. She was still on the floor, which was owned by Evelynn. The light was on, allowing the wounded woman to at least catch a glimpse of her surrounding.

“Oh, I see you woke up finally,” the rich male voice sounded.

“Who are you?” Akali asked weakly.

“I see my dearest daughter has problems with manners,” the man replied. The sound of the chair shuffling reached Akali’s ears. “Let traditions be done with. Let me introduce myself properly, firstly,” he added, most likely walking toward her.

Within a few moments, the extremely tall, pale-skinned man of noble blood appeared in front of her. The expensive, colourful coat he wore seemed to be taken from the 17th century. He was blonde with the eyes of the clear blue skies. It was evident that he was an immortal, most likely vampire. His slender yet firm fingers held Akali’s chin gently, forcing her to look him directly into the eyes.

“I am Vladimir Tepes, Evelynn’s father,” the blonde said. “Nice to meet you, at last, if I may add. My daughter was not willing to introduce us earlier. I find it extremely rude on her behalf. I thought that I have raised her up better. Sadly, it seems that I was mistaken. Please, forgive me for such a rude welcome,” he added, a hint of embarrassment lingering in his voice.

“You are a vampire, are you not?” the raven-haired woman asked, not breaking the eye-contact.

“Oh, is it not evident?” Vladimir chuckled. “I would have thought that my surname is enough to answer your question,” he added, smiling lightly.

“How can it be possible?” Akali started. “Evelynn is a normal woman, not a vampire. How can you be her father?” she asked.

“I assume your family did not pass such a knowledge onto you, heh?” the tall man asked rhetorically. “Of course not. It would be too easy. Listen to me, Akali,” he called the wounded woman out. “The pureblood vampires’ offspring are not born transformed. They inherit vampires’ genes. However, these genes are dormant until awoken. To awake them, all that is needed is for such a person to be bitten by the vampire. These two degenerates that you encountered earlier were victims of the butler who foolishly drunk Evelynn’s blood,” Tepes continued explaining.

“So, you have awakened Evelynn’s genes, have you not?” Akali asked, feeling her strengths fading, feeling herself dying slowly.

“Sadly, it was not me,” Vladimir replied. “It is why you are needed. It is why you need to be transformed into a vampire,” he added with a hint of guilt in his voice.

“What do you mean by that?” the dying woman wanted to know. “I am at the death step. Just a couple of moments more, and I will be gone. There is no use of me currently. Not in such a state,” she added with sadness.

“Sadly, you are right,” Tepes responded. “However, we will still try. Try not to move. In a moment, you will feel a bite, then as your blood will be drained, the bliss will take control over your body,” the man added before turning around.

“I do not understand,” Akali whispered, too tired to argue.

She felt cold, drained. Just a couple of moments more, and she will be done. Her life will be finished. There was just a single thing that she regrated. Not saying goodbye to her beloved. However, about that, she could not do anything. As the raven-haired woman closed her eyes, the pain spread all over her body. The delicate skin on her throat was pierced by razor-sharp fangs. Life began to be sucked away from her, but she no longer minded.

“Don’t worry, darling,” Evelynn’s soft voice rung in Akali’s ears. “Your mine, in this time, in the future, forever. We’re one. I’ll be waiting for you, my beloved,” the soft, filled with emotions whisper was the last thing the raven-haired woman heard before the blackout.


	2. Let the show begins

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, I want to share the 2nd chapter with you. I must warn you that racism will be presented in the story. I will only use it to explain a certain aspect or threads of the story. I hope, you'll end up liking what I've written so far even though it's not much :D
> 
> PS. I'll try to finish the chapter as soon as possible. There's a chance that tomorrow it'll be finished.
> 
> PS. The story is intended to show a conflict within society, to show brutality, to show blood and gores.
> 
> Anyways, as always, thank you for everything, and see you next time :D
> 
> Changelog:  
> 2021-03-09: A short preview was posted.  
> 2021-03-15: A whole chapter posted (finally).
> 
> Schedule for the nearest future:  
> 2\. Betrayal (rewrite).  
> 3\. Until my last breath (next chapter).  
> 4\. Sometimes it's just better not to know (next chapter)/(possibly rewrite).  
> 5\. Exiled you say (next chapter).  
> 6\. Kiss the rain (next chapter).  
> 7\. Whispers in the Dark (new chapter)/(possibly extending beyond just 2 part story).  
> 8\. Story of one lost soul (2 next chapters)/(The war call|The heart not so cold).  
> 9\. Prisoner of Your Eyes (next chapter).  
> 10\. Black Diamond (2 next chapters)/(possibly finishing the story).  
> 11\. The rise of the Blood Moons' servants (2 next chapters).  
> 12\. Alone (2 next chapters)/(possibly rewrite).  
> 13\. Last Christmas (finishing up the story).  
> 14\. My home is where my heart lies (a long, possibly 10k + words chapter).

“Vayne. Vayne? Vayne?! Vayne!! God damn it, Vayne. Wake the fuck up!” the man’s booming voice pierced through the silence, making the sleep fading away.

“Aghh,” Shauna Vayne groaned, trying to lift herself up from her desk. “What’s going on, Taylor?” she asked, the remnants of sleep and exhaustion hearable in her voice.

“You’re sleeping during the day. You’re sleeping while at work. Doesn’t it sound like a problem to you?” the man called Taylor allowed himself to ironise a bit. “It’s the third time I found you lying asleep on that very desk. What’s the fuck going on?” he asked much quieter.

“I’ve been here for the past 3 weeks,” the woman uttered quietly, finally managing to stand up. “I’m nearly 24/7 in that very office. My body is exhausted currently,” she added, looking straight into Taylor’s eyes.

“You’re looking like a shit,” the man commented. “Have you taken a shower recently?”

“Pff, funny,” Vayne scoffed, narrowing her eyes. “What do you want? If you came here just to irritate me, you better back off,” she added in a venomous tone.

“Your current case was closed,” Taylor announced. “The chief stated that there’s not enough evidence to waste resources on that trail.”

“What?” the surprised woman asked, staring at the man with her eyes wide open.

Taylor was a tall man who’s parent had come to the USA from some part of South America. He was very tanned, muscular, with the skin marked by many scars. His hair was curly, jet-black, short. According to him, he rarely had taken any interest to do anything with it. Some of the other officers were arguing whether he was black or white. Still, he preferred to be considered Hispanic. As per usual, he had a grey tactical trouser on with a black tee, allowing everyone to see his dog tag. Whether it was faked or not, it did matter little to none for Vayne.

“You heard me,” the Hispanic man replied. “The chief thinks that your case is irrelevant,” he added, gesturing defensively.

“What’s now, then?” Shauna asked, demotivated, placing her right hand over her face.

“There’s a new case,” the black-haired man started. “The chief wants us to work on it together. However, I don’t think we’ll be able to do much about it. It looks nasty,” he provided a bit more pieces of information as soon as the woman fixated her sight onto him.

“Fill me in, then. What do I need to know?” Vayne asked, sighing heavily.

“Here,” he said, throwing a folder onto the woman’s desk. “All the information we have - are there. Read it, then find me. I have one more case to finish before I can focus on that madness,” the tall man added before leaving the office.

With a dose of hesitation, Shauna reached out for the folder. It was surprisingly thick. Considering the fact that she had never heard out the case, it must have been new. As soon as the wrapper was opened, at least a couple of huge photos could be spotted. The woman pulled them out immediately, thinking that they might shed a bit of light on the situation. She regrated it quite quickly. As she had expected, the photo had been taken at the crime scene. They showed 12 dead men. All of them were members of some security company, at least based on the uniforms they wore. Each of them could be easily named ‘black’. Whoever, or whatever killed them, it had not wasted an ounce of time. The pictures seemed as if they had been taken in the butchery store. The entirety of the shown floor was covered in a mixture of blood and gores. Even a single glance over the frames made the woman wanted to puke.

“Splendid, another freak is out in the open, taking pleasure in butchering people,” Shauna allowed herself to complain for a short moment.

Then, she returned to the folder’s content. She needed to know everything. Maybe, just maybe, someone’s life would depend on her really soon.

For at least an hour, she had been reading the reports. It would not be an understatement if she said that every single line had frozen her blood with fear, at least to some extent. The bodies had been desecrated in so many ways. She felt pity for the person how would be tasked to tell their families about that incident. The killer made some sort of testing ground of them. The bite marks had been found on the men’s skin. As if it was enough, it was just one of the many tools the aggressor had used. It was disgusting. The victims’ flesh had been tanned, cut, bitten, torn to the shreds. Still, no evidence directly pointing at the oppressor had been found. It was some sort of madness.

She had had enough. With a low thud, the chair fell down onto the floor. Vayne did not care how her officer presented itself. With a low scoff, she grabbed the folder and her trusted gun, then left the room. The door was shut closed with a loud thud a moment later.

Her office was located inside the central operation base of RDT in Adementh city. Even though most people still called them ‘police,’ they were doing far more than the past police. The RDT was responsible for dealing with the cases associated with both humans and nonhumans. Vayne was of the few lucky officers that were only tasked with human crimes. However, based on what the folder contained, she was pretty positive that her luck was about to end.

With a heavy sigh, Shauna walked across her department. As per usual, the utter chaos ruled there. Dozens of men and women alike were talking, shouting, coming in and out. All of that created a cacophony of sounds that could easily cause a headache.

“Come on, Vayne. Don’t let these fucker distract and irritate you,” the woman uttered quietly under her breath. She loved her work - she really did. Still, her coworkers were degenerates, to say the least.

After a couple of prolonged moments, the woman managed to escape the hell – she got used to calling it ‘work’. She needed to reach the upper levels of the skyscraper. The woman hated the fact that RDT decided to choose such a facility for their main base of operations. Still, it was way over her pay-grade to have any say in that particular matter. Even though there were many differences between Taylor and her, she respected the man greatly. After all, Taylor was one of the top dogs of the supernatural’s department. The man had come across many situations which would most likely end the lives of other, less skilled officers.

One deep exhale was allowed by Shauna before she headed toward the elevator. Her mind must be clean, her nerves under control.

A somehow loud beep of the lift signalised that the piece of technology arrived. Without too much thinking, Vayne came in, quickly selecting her desired destination. The woman wiped her dried eyes before looking straight into the mirror.

Shauna Vayne was a 26 years old woman with long straight, raven hair. She got really rare eyes. The mixture of greyness and navy blue was filling her irises. That fact alone was making her intriguing yet dangerous. She was really slim. Some people considered her to be an anorexic due to that feature. The truth was that she was extremely slim yet athletic. She had inherited the noble facial features after her ancestors. Her cheeks were currently slightly dimpled due to the increased amount of stress she was faced with for the last couple of weeks. Still, she could be considered a beauty, not like the model beauty, but beauty nevertheless.

The raven-haired woman had always been the workaholic, a chaotic variant of a perfectionist. For her, it was usual to work overtime, deny herself sleep to try to finish her assignment. Even though the RDT did not force its employee to work a certain outfit on daily basic, Vayne knew better. She thought that her current position amongst society required her to work properly. Because of that, daily, she would go to her office wearing a suit with a matching shirt and a tie. Of course, it made her some sort of an attraction for her coworkers. It would not be an exaggeration if she said that most of the RDT staff would wear casual outfits – at least amongst the human department. She considered it the indignity of the post.

The elevator reached the requested destination faster than Vayne anticipated. The metal doors managed to open fully, and the second signal sounded before she returned to reality. It seemed that her mind was on the run. It was so difficult for the woman to focus on one matter for an extended period of time.

“Pfff, pathetic!” she scoffed deep inside her mind.

With yet another heavy sigh, she left the life. The very first thing she did afterwards was to look around. She had never been here before, that must be admitted. A single glance allowed the woman to notice at least one major difference. The human department of RDT mostly consisted of large open-space halls with the addition of a few small offices. While the supernatural department seemed to be divided into medium-sized offices for every single officer working there. In front of her, there were glass doors with a small terminal attached to them. To the left, there was an additional terminal with a wide display hanging on the wall. The screen was presenting some basic pieces of information that visitors would need.

After a moment or two of thinking, Vayne decided to use the wider terminal. She hoped to obtain more precise information about where to seek Taylor. As soon as she approached the piece of technology, the smart band on her wrist started to beep. On its tiny display, a 6-digits code showed. When she fixed her gaze onto the terminal, it asked her to provide a one-time code for privileges verification purpose. To some extent, it was to be expected, but it managed to surprise the woman.

After a couple of moments, the security code was provided by Vayne. The display dimmed out while at the very centre of it, the loading indicator appeared. The procedure took maybe a few seconds, maybe a bit more. In the end, the monitor returned to its original state, presenting her some sort of dashboard filled with tiles separating the content of the page. Locating the employees’ cards section took the raven-haired officer about a minute. To tell the truth, the design of that dashboard was horrific. One of her closest friends was a software developer. Nearly every single time they would meet, she would repeat one sentence about designing the applications. “Keep it stupid simple. The more intuitive the app is, the better,” Shauna heard her friend’s voice in her mind.

“Bingo,” Vayne whispered under her breath as soon as she managed to locate Taylor’s card.

It appeared that he had been assigned the officed located at the very back of the department. To reach it, she would need to cross nearly the entirety of the floor. Without a better thing to do, she opted to download the level map to her band. The moment the process finished, her band once again started to beep. Before proceeding toward the offices’ area, she logged out of the terminal. To her utter surprise, the glass doors already opened, as if waiting for her to come in.

The strong scent of men cologne hit her nostrils just a couple of moments after entering the area. The area seemed to be filled with it. Based on that fact only, the raven-haired woman could assume that most – if not all – of the department’s employees were men. “Does it really matter?” she asked herself, deep inside her mind.

Within a couple of next minutes, the woman managed to reach the central part of the level. It was modelled to be a circle with the circle table at the very middle. All of the walls adjusting the open-space area were covered with displays, consols, boards. It was evident for Vayne that this area for used primarily for meetings, planning sessions. Currently, two men were standing in front of one of the many computers. One of them was Taylor. Shauna recognised him based on the outfit he had worn during the short visit earlier.

Without hesitation, she decided to go forward. After all, she was here only because of the case the man had thrown at her desk some time ago. Still, she felt uneasy about the second man. He was about a head taller than Taylor. His clothing consisted of a long greyish thin coat with many pockets, dark combat pants and combo boots. The skin colour of the unknown man was slightly darker than Taylor’s. His long, straight, black hair was put into a ponytail. Even from a distance, it was evident that the man was muscular, combat experienced. Vayne felt as if the taller man was surrounded with a leadership aura, confidence.

When the raven-haired woman was only a couple of steps away from the men, she stopped, coughed once to gain attention. As it was to be expected, two officers turned around nearly instantly.

“Oh, finally you’re here,” Taylor said as some sort of greetings. “As I said, Lucian, it’s the officer who can help us with that case,” he added, talking toward his companion.

“You are awfully ill-mannered, Taylor,” Lucian pointed out with a deep, rich voice. “Miss Vayne, let me introduce myself properly. I am Commander Lucian Brown. I am the leader of this department and, unfortunately, the boss of this ill-mannered man, who stands next to me,” he introduced himself with a slight bow of his head.

“It’s a pleasure to finally meet you in the flesh, Sir,” the raven-haired woman replied nearly instantly. “I’ve heard many stories about your carrier. I must admit that you’re quite a mystery even for RDT,” Shauna made a comment.

“It is true,” the commander agreed. “I like to keep my secrets with me. Anyways, we have a case to solve,” he changed the topic swiftly.

“Yes, we have,” Vayne repeated after the tall man. “Can you tell me something more about it? I’ve read the files Taylor gave me earlier today. Still, it feels odd. It feels as if we don’t know anything,” she provided her point of view.

“I would agree with you, Miss Vayne,” Lucian replied. “The scene looks like a butchery. At very first glance, one could say that it is the easiest case of all time. We found desecrated butcher bodies. It could lead us to search for people who suffer from strong mental disorders. Yet, I am not entirely convinced that” the man added a couple of more pieces of information.

“It wasn’t done by man,” Taylor said. “I can hardly think about anyone who has such a desire for blood and suffering,” he added with a hint of disgust hearable in his voice.

“Do we have any autopsy reports? Has it even been commissioned?” Shauna asked after a few seconds of silence.

“No, we do not have. As you might know, our city’s current governor had issued an edit that lowered our budget. More than that, to access the additional resources, we are to contact the council,” the commander explained.

“Who’s in charge of making such a decision?” the raven-haired woman asked, sighing heavily. “Of course, I forgot about that,” she added inside her mind.

“Any member of the council can provide us with the needed funds,” Taylor said. “However, the only one who’s currently in the city is the head of the council,” he added with a hint of fear.

“Can we contact him?” Shauna asked immediately.

“Not him, her,” Lucian corrected the woman. “I can make a call. However, I doubt that I will be invited to the meeting,” the tall man added.

“Without an autopsy, we’ll not go much further,” the raven-haired woman pointed out. “We need to talk with the leader of the council. Otherwise, we can just close the case. All we know is that there was only one killer. All of the victims were killed one by one.”

“I hate the fact that you’re right,” Taylor whispered. “I feel uneasy about the council’s leader, and you should too, Vayne,” he added.

“Why?” the woman asked, surprised.

“Because she is a vampire,” Lucian replied. “Taylor is afraid of vampires. He refuses to deal with the cases associated with them. And… it seems that he thinks that your experience with them, your past, will block you, to some extent,” the commander provided a further explanation.

Shauna allowed herself to be silenced for a couple of prolonged moments. Her mind was flooded by the memories cast away, bounded to the deepest part of her consciousness. The memories of that awful day came back with doubled strength. Images of her family being killed in front of her eyes returned. The woman felt as if she was reliving these moments once again. A lone tear rolled out of her eye. She wiped it up immediately.

“We’re here to save people, to make them as safe as possible,” she spoke after a moment of silence. “Even if these memories still hunt me in my nightmares, I need to overcome them. I chose this job to help people. And… if I’m too coward to fulfil my plages, I’m not worth anything,” she added in a whisper-like manner.

“I feel like you are too hard for yourself,” Lucian sounded. “However, I agree with you. To fulfil our job, we need to overcome our own traumas, our fears.”

“I won’t go to meet her,” Taylor said upright. “I don’t want to participate with the case with vampires,” he added to backup his previous statement.

“I will not force you,” the lead officer replied. “However, you are putting Miss Vayne in a very uncomfortable position. After all, she is not the part of the supernatural department compared to you,” the man pointed out in a cold tone. “Miss Vayne, would you take up this challenge and become a new member of my team?” he asked formally, focusing on the raven-haired woman.

“Sir, please drop these formalities, these titles,” Shauna replied immediately. “I’m an officer of RDT. If you want me to be part of your team, you’ll have me in it,” she added right away.

“I hoped you would say that Vayne,” Lucian responded. “I will make an appointment for you,” he added, reaching for the mobile straight away. “And before I forget,” the lead officer started. “Taylor, give her access to our databases, boards, resources,” her ordered his protégé.

“Right away, Sir,” Taylor replied without enthusiasm. “Come with me to another terminal,” he said toward Vayne.

They headed toward the terminal that was located at the opposite side of the open-space area. The display attached to the piece of technology was huge. Shauna would guess that the monitor was at least 67 inches wide, but she could be wrong. The measuring by sight was never her strong side. As soon as they reached it, Taylor began unlocking the computer and logging in.

“Could you read the serial number of your band, please?” he asked, not sparring her even a single glance.

“Sure,” the raven-haired woman responded. She lifted her band, then clicked a couple of times to access the settings menu. “67971b4daa43fff53fe63520dae72f77fd6d1362.”

“Ok, give a few moments,” the man said. “I queued some files to be sent to your band - mostly certificates, keys, you know, security stuff. It should be done in less than a minute. After that, you’re free to access our resources,” he explained, still continuing to talk without an ounce of enthusiasm.

“Do I need anything else?” the raven-haired woman asked, checking the piece of technology wrapped around her right wrist.

“I don’t think so,” Taylor responded, grumpy.

“Vayne, the council’s leader’s secretary, wants to speak with you,” Lucian sounded. “She agreed to arrange the meeting. However, the secretary wants to talk with the person who will be attending it. Before you ask, she disagreed for me to handle the meeting,” he added with a scowl all over his face.

“Fair enough,” Vayne sighed heavily before taking the phone from her new boss.

The woman allowed herself to sit beside the round table. The truth was, she needed a bit of time to calm down her nerves. After all, she had been just promoted, and yet, here she was. About to talk with the secretary of the single most important person in the city.

“Are you still with me, Miss Vayne?” the pleasant voice came from the mobile.

“Yes, of course,” the raven-haired woman replied as soon as the surprise faded away. “I’m sorry, I needed a moment for myself,” she provided an additional explanation.

“Nothing happened, Miss Vayne,” the secretary assured her cooly. “I was informed that you’re new here, so please, take your time,” she added. “Shall we address the matter of the appointment?” the woman asked a moment later.

“Yes,” the raven-haired woman replied, unconfidently.

“Splendid,” the council leader’s protégé exclaimed cheerfully. “Mister Brown informed me that you’d like to ask Miss Tepes for the additional resources for RDT. Do you have time now?” she asked.

“Why?”

“Miss Tepes informed me that if the matter is crucial for your operations, the meeting can be arranged now. I’ll have a driver sent to your main base within the next 2 minutes. He should arrive in less than 30 minutes,” the secretary flooded Vayne with information.

“Of course,” it was the only thing Shauna was able to utter back.

“Splendid, see you soon then,” the woman bid her farewell and hunged up the call in the very next second.

The confusion was visibly presented all over the raven-haired woman’s face. As soon as she put down the phone, her new boss walked to her.

“What did she say?” Lucian asked immediately.

“The meeting is today,” Vayne exhaled heavily. “The driver’s already en route to pick me up,” she provided a bit more information.

“Ehhh…,” the tall man sighed. “It seems that there is no rest for the wicked. There is a job to be done, Vayne. I count on you.”

“I’d love to say the same about myself,” she whispered, slowly standing up. “I need to get ready,” she added, excusing herself from the briefing room.

“Take your time, kid,” she heard Lucian’s voice behind her. “There is a lot of things that depend on that meeting. Just proceed slowly,” he gave her a hint.

“Of course, Sir,” Shauna replied emotionlessly. “I’ll make sure we get this money,” she tried to sound confident, but even she knew that she failed miserably. The department leader spotted that without a problem, but he did not utter a single word more, allowing the woman to leave the floor.

“It’s really high time for me to face the demons of my past,” Vayne whispered softly inside her mind.


End file.
